I typically have three blends open to me at a time. Early Morning Pipe seems to always be in my open stock, but I do change out the other two each month and bring something else out of the cellar. I smoke anywhere from no bowls a day to 3 or 4, depending on my work schedule. I'd guess I'd average about 2 bowls a day in an average week. So with three blends open, you can see I do not go through a lot of tobacco in a month.

When I cellar, I grab whatever size mason jar or spaghetti sauce jar I have available to me. (I guess I should get some baby food jars) Some are 2, 4, 8oz jars. So my question is this. When I open up one of the larger jars I would only be pulling out about 2 ounces of the tobacco, How do I handle the rest?

Should I just put the lid back on and put it back in the cellar?

Should I boil up some water and find a smaller jar and reseal it - and put it back in the cellar?

Don't be heating the tobacco in service of sealing jars. They seal anyway without heat.

Rusty - are you saying that when you cellar your baccy you do not heat up the jars first? I thought I was suppose to heat them in boiling water and stuff the baccy in shortly after taking the jars out of the hot water.

Don't be heating the tobacco in service of sealing jars. They seal anyway without heat.

Rusty - are you saying that when you cellar your baccy you do not heat up the jars first? I thought I was suppose to heat them in boiling water and stuff the baccy in shortly after taking the jars out of the hot water.

Yes. I do not put tobacco in hot jars. Heating the tobacco is bad for it. You can heat the jars if you want ie if you're sterilizing them, but then it's best to let them cool to room temp. before putting tobacco in them. The jars will seal anyway. You don't need to heat mason jars to get the lid to seal. There is a strange obsession with the seal out there and I work at eradicating that erroneous belief and practice here. Sacrificing the tobacco to a hot seal is a bad trade. Your tobacco will thank-you for not being heated. Have you heard of the wax craze or is that finally gone? Also a little air-space isn't going to make much difference. No matter what size jar you use you will eventually have air-space as the tobacco is consumed. I've found that wide mouth half-pint mason jars are perfect.

Ok I will put the twist on this, I use mason jars and no heat. I empty all cardboard tobacco containers into jars as soon as they arrive, but how long can baccy stay in the containers that are all metal? Will they loose seal just sitting on a shelf?

It doesn't get into voodoo until we are talking about the varieties of tobacco.

I've smoked codger burleys (specifically Sugar Barrel) that were decades old in the original container. Unchanged from factory-fresh. These were designed to withstand a nuclear or zombie apocalypse -- before nukes or zombies were cool.

On the other hand, I've smoked some of Pepik's 40-year-old red virginia (Mac Baren Norwood). That was a singular, memorable experience! (Pipeson was talking about this, just yesterday.) The sugary virginias undergo a slow fermentation.... heating the tobacco would kill (or at least disrupt) the delicate balance of aerobic and anaerobic microbes which produce the aging effect. Not to mention that heat drives off some of the volatile flavors which are already present.

If you want a cavendish, just buy cavendish. Don't try to cook your own in a jar. (Unless you are a missionary in Papua New Guinea and growing your own tobacco. Then you might want to try steaming some pressed leaves that are drying under you hut.)

Aromatic toppings are fragile. They don't like heat or long aging.

There is a debate about the risk/benefits of latakia and orientals. Do they improve with age? Some say that a few years are beneficial. But most agree that the volatile oils and smokey flavors are fragile and eventually decline after a time. I think Greg Pease suggests that a decade or so is where he draws the line.... He was smoking some old, extinct blends which were "past their prime."

Don't ever consider heating latakia or orientals until they are in your bowl!

"Utter frogshit from start to finish." - Onyx

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." - Eph 4

I do too. I'm using the same hockey-puck jar lid sealer with the attachment hose off my VaccuSeal machine. Works fine as far as I've seen in terms of popping the lids on 'baccy I've laid up, and finding it enjoyable.

Grizzly wrote:Ok I will put the twist on this, I use mason jars and no heat. I empty all cardboard tobacco containers into jars as soon as they arrive, but how long can baccy stay in the containers that are all metal? Will they loose seal just sitting on a shelf?

Mason jars aren't glass, but rather all metal, in your vicinity? Or maybe you mean tins? They're both supposed to meet food grade packaging standards. The metal lid is coated on the mason jars and the tins are supposed to be lined too. I find mason jars to be more trouble free than press fit vacuum sealed tins. The pop top tins & sealed soup tins are fine. If you have a big tin collection you have to patrol them for lost seals on the vacuum press fit style. They're ok for about a month after the seal is gone so you patrol monthly hoping to catch any that have released so you can smoke them. It's like they have a a half life and in sufficient numbers you will encounter it. And you must store your tobacco cellar away from open tobacco because your nose is your best tool to detect seals gone as the lovely scent spends itself in your cellar. The mason jars by comparison never let go. But it really is only a subset of tins that are problematic.

So why not repack all tobacco into jars or vacuum bags? I think it's too much trouble. Also you will lose tobacco to mold in some cases. There are manufacturers that use very little preservative on the tobacco. In significant cellars there is a percentage that is lost to a variety of causes.

Last edited by Rusty on Tue Sep 29, 2015 12:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You're out of the woods
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Step into the sun
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It doesn't get into voodoo until we are talking about the varieties of tobacco.

I've smoked codger burleys (specifically Sugar Barrel) that were decades old in the original container. Unchanged from factory-fresh. These were designed to withstand a nuclear or zombie apocalypse -- before nukes or zombies were cool.

On the other hand, I've smoked some of Pepik's 40-year-old red virginia (Mac Baren Norwood). That was a singular, memorable experience! (Pipeson was talking about this, just yesterday.) The sugary virginias undergo a slow fermentation.... heating the tobacco would kill (or at least disrupt) the delicate balance of aerobic and anaerobic microbes which produce the aging effect. Not to mention that heat drives off some of the volatile flavors which are already present.

If you want a cavendish, just buy cavendish. Don't try to cook your own in a jar. (Unless you are a missionary in Papua New Guinea and growing your own tobacco. Then you might want to try steaming some pressed leaves that are drying under you hut.)

Aromatic toppings are fragile. They don't like heat or long aging.

There is a debate about the risk/benefits of latakia and orientals. Do they improve with age? Some say that a few years are beneficial. But most agree that the volatile oils and smokey flavors are fragile and eventually decline after a time. I think Greg Pease suggests that a decade or so is where he draws the line.... He was smoking some old, extinct blends which were "past their prime."

Don't ever consider heating latakia or orientals until they are in your bowl!

This quintessential Del. He says it aint rocket science then he writes a bunch of sciencey procedural steps to follow.

Reminds me of that time Jocose started his outlaw, 'no rules' box pass, but he wrote a few rules up front.

Here's how I do it:
1. Use a big jar for long term storage (more than 2 weeks)
2. Use a small jar/pouch for daily use and short term storage (less than 2 weeks)

"If we ever get to heaven boys, it aint because we aint done nothin' wrong" - Kris Kristofferson

"One of the things I love about CPS is the frank and enthusiastic dysfunction here. God help me, I do love it so." – OldWorldSwine

"I'd like to put a hook in that puppet and swing it through a bunch of salmon!" - durangopipe

I smoke every day and I have small jars (eg wide mouth half-pint or 250 ml mason jars in the rest of the world) and I think they work great. Mind you they're empty within a week or two with me. Once opened the tobacco is consumed faster with small jars so there is less degradation due to repeated access.

All of this seems to revolve around smoking frequency or jar access frequency anyway.

If you're an infrequent smoker ie a few bowls per week to a few a few bowls per month then the vacuum packing is likely superior to jars. Vacuum packing eliminates the degradation over long term repeated access to a container (ie air changes). So if the container is sized so that it's empty within a month then the jars are working fine. But it does suggest that smaller jars are better. If they last a lot longer with repeated access then jars are not the best solution and the vacuum packing is likely better.

Small jars work very well for daily smokers.

You're out of the woods
You're out of the dark
You're out of the night
Step into the sun
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Haroldt wrote:Wow, very interesting. I've been told before to boil the jar and pack warm. Seems as though conventional wisdom has changed. Thanks for all the info, Rusty and Del.

Coco - lets talk more. When you say that you vacuum seal...are you talking about using a "Food Saver" vacuum machine in plastic bags?

I bought some canning jars at the hardware store. Stuff tobacco in and screw the cap on.

The slight fermentation in the jar will reduce the pressure inside as oxygen is consumed, creating a "vacuum" seal.

"Utter frogshit from start to finish." - Onyx

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." - Eph 4

FredS wrote:This quintessential Del. He says it aint rocket science then he writes a bunch of sciencey procedural steps to follow.

Simple stuff is science too.

The trivia is fun. Just don't take it all so seriously.

"Utter frogshit from start to finish." - Onyx

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." - Eph 4

FredS wrote:This quintessential Del. He says it aint rocket science then he writes a bunch of sciencey procedural steps to follow.

Simple stuff is science too.

The trivia is fun. Just don't take it all so seriously.

He's disciplining you, gently. FredS has a style for his stories about how things work and how they should work. It's compelling even though he knows little about tobacco, less about astronomy, etc. He'd like you to do the same. I especially liked his denial of American culture and the only pipe shape that qualifies as American. It's compelling even though he is wrong.

You're out of the woods
You're out of the dark
You're out of the night
Step into the sun
Step into the light

FredS wrote:This quintessential Del. He says it aint rocket science then he writes a bunch of sciencey procedural steps to follow.

Simple stuff is science too.

The trivia is fun. Just don't take it all so seriously.

He's disciplining you, gently. FredS has a style for his stories about how things work and how they should work. It's compelling even though he knows little about tobacco, less about astronomy, etc. He'd like you to do the same. I especially liked his denial of American culture and the only pipe shape that qualifies as American. It's compelling even though he is wrong.

Oh dear. Rusty makes me sound kind of . . .Kerdyish. If I ever go off the deep end (or even get close really), please give me a Pope Slap. I'm giving you all permission right now to do that.

And you're free to slap me if you ever see me wearing pajama pants to Walmart too.

"If we ever get to heaven boys, it aint because we aint done nothin' wrong" - Kris Kristofferson

"One of the things I love about CPS is the frank and enthusiastic dysfunction here. God help me, I do love it so." – OldWorldSwine

"I'd like to put a hook in that puppet and swing it through a bunch of salmon!" - durangopipe